State Supreme Court will not rule on Voter ID case

Wisconsin’s Voter ID law will likely remain on hold during the November elections.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had asked the state Supreme Court to take up a pair of lawsuits challenging the controversial law, and to stay injunctions that currently stop the requirement from being enforced at Wisconsin’s polling places. Both lawsuits are currently awaiting action from the state Court of Appeals after judges in Dane County ruled the law is unconstitutional.

In a pair of writtendecisions released Thursday, the high court denied a request to bypass the court of appeals. Justices also dismissed motions to combine the two cases and restore voter ID before the November election, calling the requests premature.

The challenges filed by the League of Women Voters and the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP argue the law requiring voters to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s ruling likely means Wisconsin voters will not have to show a photo ID when voting in November.

In a statement Attorney General Van Hollen said he is “very dissapointed” the Supreme Court failed to act, but maintained his belief the law is consitutional.

The cases could still end up before the Supreme Court eventually; after the appeals court makes its rulings.